


The Real Lives of Royalty

by IrisofParadise



Series: The Real Housewives of Royalty [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Modern Royalty, Multi, Original Character(s), Royalty AU, will add more as story progresses - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-17 14:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5873860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrisofParadise/pseuds/IrisofParadise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anatoly needs a raise if he's going to be dealing with his younger brother pining after the young Prince Matthew. Jack has the patience of a saint while dealing with his son's pining of the Russian prince.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I was going to first write an Anastasia AU with Vasilisa. Which of course made me think of Matt and Vladimir as Alexandra and Nicholas. Which made me think of how when Nicholas saw Alexandra he immediately fell in love with her. Which then made me really want royalty au with Vladimir falling head over heels in love with Matt at first sight and being very bad at being subtle but Matt still doesn't realize. And thus this series thing was born. Oops.  
> Matt is going to be about fifteen at the start, Vladimir twenty. So slight underage flirting from them both. And also, just imagine them trying to out corny each other in love letters later. Because I did and I love it.  
> (Diane is my besties oc and she's important later on in life.)

Vladimir has gotten out of having to go to most of the royal parties for the past few summers; he was completely thankful that he had managed to do this incredible feat for so long, while Anatoly on the other hand was completely exasperated with his younger brother. But he couldn't get out of going to one when it was being held in his own country. So it was with groans from both brothers, though for very different reasons; Anatoly was just exasperated with his twenty year old brother who insisted on acting like he was four while Vladimir was just groaning to give Anatoly a hard time because that's just what younger brothers do; they get dressed into their princely clothes as the Catherine Palace is readied for all of the royals to arrive.

The blonde still doesn't come down to the ballroom until half an hour after all of the guests have arrived. Anatoly of course noticed but chose not to say anything. As soon as Vladimir is entering the room a bubbly blonde girl latches herself onto his arm and begins to lead him away from the direction he was originally going with a hiss of, “Not that way! Diane,” the name is said with a shudder, “is over there. Flirting rather obnoxiously with poor Clint.”

Vladimir just shudders and lets Karen lead him away from the French princess and Danish prince, who is shooting them a nasty look as they make their getaway. “Spasiba. Where's your shadow?” He whispers back in a very bored tone.

The Latvian princess just scoffs, her arm still wrapped around his. “Probably glaring at me from whatever dark corner he's hiding in. I may have accidentally dyed most of his shirts pink before we left home,” she says this nonchalantly, sounding almost as bored as the Russian just had.

Vladimir grins down at her. “Sometimes I hate you, but sometimes I think you are amazing.”

Her response was to give him a wink before she finally let go of his arm, deciding that they were a safe enough distance away from Diane. A glance around and then her face is lighting up. “I have to go. See you later, Vladimir. Foggy!” She whisper yells, arms waving as she makes her way to another teenager that Vladimir has never seen before. 

This 'Foggy' lights up, his cheeks and ears flushing a light pink as Karen makes her way over to him easily through the crowd. Vladimir wonders for just a moment who the young teenager is before he ultimately decided he doesn’t care enough and moves across the room to find his brother.

“Where's Matt?” Karen asks, looking around for the auburn haired teenager. She doesn't notice as Foggy's face falls ever so slightly at her question and wandering gaze.

“Oh he's somewhere. Probably hiding. He hates these things, you know? I, on the other hand, was totally made for royal life,” Foggy says with a wide grin as he stares at the food. Karen just giggles, hand covering her mouth daintily. “I love that he likes to drag me on some of these things and I am even more happy that my parents let me spend half of the summer in Europe.”

While Karen catches up with the blonde American, still glancing around for sight of the auburn haired prince, Vladimir has casually made his way over to his brother.

He gives a bright grin, completely forced and Anatoly can tell. _“Is the party almost over?”_ He mutters softly.

Anatoly just leans closer to him, forcing his own light-hearted grin. _“Not at all. You took your fucking time arriving though so I don't see why you are complaining you big baby.”_

Vladimir shrugs, just a twitch of the shoulder that no one but his brother would notice. _“You know I hate these fucking things. Such a waste of time and always so boring. Besides-”_ he stops mid sentence as he sees a boy he's never seen before grab a tiny cake from one of the tables and slip out to the balcony. He doesn't realize that he's gaping, eyes wide, until Anatoly is snapping his fingers directly in front of his face. “Huh?”

“You alright, moy brat'ya? You look sick,” Anatoly says worriedly as he looks his brother over. He's slipped back to English, his accent thick, and he's placed the back of his hand to his brother's forehead.

Vladimir pulls Anatoly's hand away, eyes never leaving the teenager's figure. “Da, da! Him!” He makes a gesture towards the auburn haired teenager who is wearing sunglasses indoors at night. “Who is he?”

Anatoly frowns but looks away from his brother to the teenager who is nibbling on a small cake. “Prince Matthew of Ireland. He lives in New York though for some reason. You would know this if you would come to meetings like everyone else, Vova,” he finishes in a slightly teasing but mostly serious tone.

The blonde just mouthed the name to himself before nodding and patting Anatoly on the shoulder with a bit too much force. “I be right back,” is all he says before he is walking towards the balcony. He doesn't notice as Anatoly raises an eyebrow in a mix of curiosity and amusement. He's too preoccupied with this new person he's never seen before.

Vladimir brushes off invisible dirt from his uniform before he's stepping out onto the balcony. For a moment he's surprised at how much younger the boy looks up close than he did across the large room but he quickly relaxes once more. He opens his mouth to introduce himself but stops short as the teenager tilts his head and frowns, mouth full of cake.

“Who're you?”

The Russian decided that he rather likes the accent. He doesn't realize that he's just staring and not speaking until the teenager scoffs and finishes the last bite of his cake with a mutter of, “Whatever.”

“Privyet! I am Prince Vladimir I-” He begins, accent heavy in his nervousness, but stops as the teenager blows a raspberry loudly.

“Oops don't care anymore. If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone now,” Matt says in a very bored tone as he turns to lean over the balcony a bit. He knows that he's acting like a petulant child but he just can't find it in himself to care.

He's tired and stressed out and he just wants the summer to be over so that he can go back to his normal life back home in Hell's Kitchen. His normal life where he doesn’t feel like he’s constantly being watched. Where he doesn’t have to be so stiff and make sure he’s not offending anyone with the wrong bow or nod of the head. His life where he doesn’t have to dance with other princes or princesses and worry about stepping on their feet or them on his. He misses being able to sleep in. Go to church. Listen to Foggy narrate a movie. Royal life is just not for him he thinks.

While Vladimir is just surprised that someone aside from his brother would dare to talk to him like this teenager just had. “Excuse me?” He splutters out in surprise.

The boy just nods, face completely serious. “You’re excused.”

“Chto?”

“Leave. Me. Alone?” Matt states each word clearly, looking for all purposes completely done with the whole situation. He expects for the Russian prince to leave and is very let down when the elder prince moves to stand next to him, looking over the balcony just as he was.

“Why?”

Matt groaned. “Because I want to be alone?”

“Should not have come to party then,” is all Vladimir says, very much amused with the scowling teenager.

The auburn haired teen groaned once more. “I didn't want to!” He snaps out, arms thrown up in annoyance at Vladimir and the whole situation in general.

“Why?” Vladimir asks, though he can take a pretty good guess. Probably for the same reasons he hates going to royal parties. And if that happens to be the case, he knows just how to save them both from the party. While getting to know this prince that he’s never met before. A win for them both really he thinks.

Another huff from the annoyed teenager. “Cause these things are always so lame? I hate them? And I can never manage to hide for very long before someone,” he glares in the Russians general direction from behind his dark glasses, “finds me. Though I guess I should just be thankful it was you and not Princess,” another scoff from him, “Diane. She's so annoying.”

Vladimir can't help but laugh at that. “Da, you have no idea! If you want to get away from party balcony is not best place to hide. I know better place.” Without waiting for Matt's response, he grabs a hold of his arm and begins to lead Matt back to the party but then he's leading away from the party and Matt frowns in confusion as the only sound that he hears is the echoing of their footsteps down an empty hall.

“Where are w-”

“Shh! Don't want to be caught, do we?” Vladimir interrupts, never slowing. He stops himself from turning to once again stare at the teenager that he was quickly realized is blind. He makes sure to be extra careful while leading the way now.

Matt frowns but whispers back, “Where are we going then?”

“Kitchens,” the blonde grins over his shoulder to the confused teenager. “Get food and then ditch party. The gardens are always quiet. Usually anyway.”

It's not much longer before they're slipping into the kitchens, the few people still cleaning or cooking choosing to ignore the two princes in favor of finishing their jobs.

Matt stands awkwardly to the side as he listens to Vladimir move around and mutter to himself. “Hope you like chocolate,” he whispers to Matt before shoving a plate full of tiny cakes to the eagerly nodding teenager. “Where is the good vodka...” Vladimir mumbles, trailing off as he looks around the kitchen. He makes an excited noise as he spots a bottle.

“We’re drinking vodka?” Matt asks, suddenly sounding a lot more excited and looking much more perked up than he had five minutes ago.

The Russian scoffs, twines his arm through Matt’s, and begins to lead the way through the palace to the gardens. “I am. You are not.”

“But why?” Matt whines, though he refuses to say that he’s whining.

Vladimir raises an eyebrow at the boy’s tone. “Because you are baby.” Matt’s mouth opens in denial. “You are what, twelve?” The blonde asks, the corner of his mouth raising into a smirk as Matt’s cheeks flush as his temper rises.

“I’m fifteen actually! And I’ll be sixteen soon!” The teenager huffs out, glaring from behind his dark tinted glasses. He’s lying. His birthday is in April, not for almost a whole other year.

The blonde just laughs and continues to lead him out of the palace and into the gardens. “Da, da. Whatever you say, malen'kiy prints.” Vladimir laughs even more as the younger prince wrinkles his nose at the foreign words.

“What?”

“Hm?” Vladimir hums back, playing dumb by pretending to be confused by Matt’s question, as he pushes open one of the doors. They step out of the palace and the Russian is quietly shutting the door behind them.

“What’d you just call me? Malin- malee- what?”

Vladimir laughs again as the American accented words butcher his language. From anyone else he thinks it would have insulted or annoyed him greatly, but coming from the auburn haired teenager he almost thinks it’s adorable. Even more adorable when Prince Matthew just flushes in embarrassment. “Malen’kiy prints,” Vladimir corrects almost gently, saying the words slowly and enunciating for Matt. As the teenager mouths the words he grins again. “Means ‘little prince’.”

Matt scowls in his direction. “I’m not little!”

“Oh of course not, simpatichnyy mal'chik,” Vladimir teases, side of his mouth turned up into an amused smirk as Matt just huffs at him. He nudges on the younger boy’s shoulder suddenly and says softly, “Careful. Edge of fountain, don’t fall in malen’kiy prints,” before he’s sitting down and taking a quick gulp from his bottle of stolen vodka.

Matt slowly sits down, leaving just a few inches between himself and the annoying Russian. “Karen was right, you are an annoying jerk,” he huffs out before taking a cautious bite of a cake.

This just makes Vladimir even more curious about just who Matt is. He knew of Prince Jonathan of Ireland, he did pay attention to some extent in his classes, but he could not for the life of him recall a Prince Matthew of anywhere let alone Ireland. He raises an eyebrow in amusement at the teenagers words. “Karen talks about me?” Matt gives a noncommittal shrug, never stopping his nibbling on the cake in his hands. “Hm. She never mentioned you before. Who are you? Do not believe I got your name.”

Matt frowns at him, eyebrows furrowed in unease. “Didn’t give it.”

The blonde loses his smirk in favor of a frown. _“You are making this difficult.”_

Now the teenager frowns, nearly dropping his unfinished cake in confusion at the foreign words that slip easily from the Russian’s mouth. “Huh?”

The Russian prince just snickers to himself as he decides this language barrier could be fun. “I say, _you are making it hard to learn about you_ ,” he says, grinning as Prince Matthew scowls at him. “Your name, malen’kiy prints?”

Matt bites his lower lip in thought. On the one hand he knows he’s supposed to, or at the very least should, tell the other prince who he is. It’s only proper of course. But on the other hand, he’s not supposed to talk to strangers. And he still wants to be alone. In the end that’s the side of him that won over. He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at the Russian and says very haughtily, “My dad says not to talk to strangers.”

He had hoped that by being rude the elder prince would grow bored of him and leave him to himself like he wanted, but instead it only seems to further amuse the Russian.

Vladimir nods slowly, tilts his head ever so slightly to the side, and picks up one of the three mini cakes left. “Makes sense. But,” the corner of his mouth slides up into a half smirk, “I am no stranger. I have already introduced myself. _You brat_.”

“Stop that!” Matt almost hisses out in aggravation. This only seems to further amuse Vladimir.

“Only if you tell me your name. Fair trade I think, da?”

Matt scowls at him. “No! No ‘da’!” Even as the word leaves his mouth he knows that’s pronounced it wrong. And he half expects for Vladimir to tell him so. In Russian.

And Vladimir does not disappoint.

“ _You said it wrong,_ ” Vladimir stated, still smirking at the now red faced teenager. He knows that he’s being unfair to the auburn haired prince but he can’t help it. Prince Matthew is fun to tease. He knows that he is also finding this a lot more amusing than it should be, but again, he doesn’t care.

The young prince purses his lips. He can just imagine the elder prince smirking in amusement at his distress and it does nothing but irk him even more. “If I tell you my name, will you go away and just leave me alone?”

“ _No_ ,” Vladimir states in his native tongue, licking the chocolate from his fingers. He’s thankful that Anatoly isn’t around or he’d probably be smacked because ‘princes don’t lick food from their fingers, Vova!’. A glance at the frowning teenager makes him smirk.

Matt sighs, shakes his head, and begrudgingly muttered, “My name is Matthew and my friends call me Matt usually.”

For a moment, just a moment, the blonde thinks about tormenting the poor boy some more. But ultimately he just nods to himself and says softly, “Matthew.” He wrinkles his nose then says more clearly and brightly, “Nyet. Matvey.”

And then he grins as Matt frowns at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Uh, no? Matthew. Matthew,” Matt repeats his name slower, being sure to speak clearly so that Vladimir would understand him.

Vladimir shakes his head. “No. Matvey suits you better.” He watches Matt scowl and can’t stop the almost dopey grin from forming on his own face. “Matvey.”

“Matthew. And weren’t you going to leave me alone once I told you my name?” Matt huffs out bitterly.

“Never said that, malen’kiy prints,” Vladimir says in a false patronizing tone. “Nyet is no. Cake?” He holds out one of the mini chocolate cakes to the teenager and raises an eyebrow as he waits patiently for the auburn haired boy to take it.

And slowly Matt lets out a final sigh and holds his hand out, waiting for Vladimir to place it into his hand. “You’re an annoying pain in the butt of a prince.”

Vladimir is almost too proud and far too eager to agree with an enthusiastic, _“Yes I am."_ Matt groans as he hears the Russian words, unable to understand them. He almost wants to learn the language just so the annoying Russian can't tease him in his native tongue. Almost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karen and Vladimir sassing each other. Vladimir awkward flirting. Clint teaching Matt how to archery. It's not going well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am thinking about making Jessica a princess too. Because she is perf and I love her. Plus, she would also live in Hell's Kitchen and her, Matt, Trish, and Foggy being little terrors together.

The sunny weather does nothing to brighten Karen’s and Vladimir’s moods towards each other. Currently the young princess and prince are in the courtyard along with Prince Clint and Prince Matthew, Jack, Anatoly, Foggy, and James.

Jack and Anatoly are walking around talking rather amicably about something or other. While Clint is currently standing behind Matt, arms attempting to position Matt’s to correctly hold the bow. But Matt is making a face and standing uncomfortably, holding the bow as if it may try to strangle him any second now. Foggy stands to the side, watching in amusement as Clint groans for the hundredth time and tries once more to get Matt to relax.

“Look man, you’ve got to relax. And don’t hold it like that. You’re going to hurt yourself later,” Clint groans out, once more re-positioning Matt’s hands.

Karen and Vladimir take sneaking peeks over to the blind prince who looks completely uncomfortable with the bow in his hands and the position he’s in before they’re once more glaring at each other.

“You never mentioned him before,” Vladimir says. He tries to keep himself sounding disinterested with the auburn haired prince but Karen can tell that he’s curious about Matt.

So she just shrugs. “You never asked. He’s just a friend. Why do you care?” Blue eyes narrow coldly as she watches Vladimir’s eyes never leaving Matthew’s form. “He’s a really good friend of mine.”

Vladimir turns to her, one eyebrow raised at her tone and a smirk dancing to his lips. “Oh?”

She nods enthusiastically. “We’ve been like, best friends since he was ten.” Karen hopes that she sounds more confident in saying this than she thinks she does. She knows that she’s not actually Matt’s best friend. But she hopes that Vladimir doesn’t.

But when he stares down at her with a look of what is obviously false pity mixed with amusement, she knows he didn’t believe her and she deflates almost immediately.

“Really? Oh little princess, that is not what he told me last night. You know,” he once again regains his bored appearance, “we talked for quite a bit last night.” He prefers not to disclose how he had done a majority of talking for the first hour or so that he had Matt outside with him. It’s not important enough for Karen to know.

The blonde girl scowls at him. “Well that’s just fi- ahhh!” She breaks off into a high pitched scream as an arrow shoots directly between her and Vladimir, who had let out a startled curse.

They both turn to stare wide eyed across the yard to where Matt is standing, bow in hand and jaw dropped. “Uh… my bad?” He’s then leaning slightly to his right to whisper to Foggy, “Who did I almost shoot?”

“Karen and some guy I haven’t met yet,” Foggy answers back, giving a sheepish wave to Karen. Karen just frowns and places her hand over her racing heart in an attempt to calm herself.

There’s the sound of feet slapping the ground as they rush over to her and then James is breathing heavily and staring at the arrow in shock. “Are you alright Princess Karen?”

The young teenage girl just sighs, doesn’t even bother turning to the worried brunette. Just throws a soft, “I’m fine,” over her shoulder as she gazes at Matthew who has once again been nudged back into the proper bow holding position by Clint. James nods and takes a few steps back, and keeps a watchful eye on the blonde princess. More out of duty than caring for her.

As the two blondes watch Matt shoot a few more arrows they can’t help but be amused and worried. Worried because Clint lets out a shout of, “Everybody drop!” Before he is dropping to the ground with a thud. Foggy lets out a loud yell of, “Let the bodies hit the ground! Let the bodies hit the ground!” And then he too is dropping to the ground beside Matt as an arrow goes flying.

Matt drops the bow to the ground with a loud groan as he hears his dad let out a startled yelp of, “Matty!”

“I almost shot my dad, didn’t I?” He breathed out softly, hands covering his now flushed face.

Foggy slowly raised himself from the ground and pat Matt’s shoulder. “Well… Almost. You also almost shot the King of Russia. So hey, nice shot!”

The auburn haired teenager lets out another loud groan, his shock making him only able to correct Foggy with a mumbled, “Tzar. They use Tzar in Russia.”

There’s the sound of Foggy waving his hand around dismissively. “Tzar. King. Emperor. All same thing, just different titles. Honestly, it can get so confusing and I don’t know how you’re able to keep up with it.” Matt just gives a shrug, hands now shoved into his pockets but he keeps his face turned down.

Vladimir tilts his head in amusement as he watches Jonathan run over to Matt. The auburn haired prince just shrugs and mumbles something to his father and then he’s being pulled into a tight hug and then the prince is picking the dropped bow back up and holding it as if it may attack him.

Jack lets Matt push himself from the tight hug, face flushed in embarrassment. “At least no one died,” Matt mumbled, kicking lightly at the grass.

Jack frowns at his son before stating slowly, “No…” he begins slowly before sighing and crossing his arms to stare down sternly at his pouting teenage son. “But you almost shot Karen and Vladimir-"

“Oh was that the other person with Karen that I almost shot?” Matt interrupts in an odd tone, face finally turned up from the ground. A small mischievous grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Well in that case I’m not too sorry. They’re kind of annoying.” He smirks slightly as he hears both Vladimir and Karen let out insulted, “Hey!”s.

The auburn haired prince just grins in their direction, not knowing that both blondes had to bite back dopey grins at his charming grin, and calls back, “You two talk to much!”

Jack on the other hand, is not nearly as amused as his son so obviously is. “Why are you even shooting arrows around?” He gives a serious look to Clint, who has begun to look sheepishly to the ground, then moves his gaze back to his still flushed son. A glance to Foggy and the blonde quickly looks away, whistling softly in innocence. Jack just rolls his eyes.

Matt points to the blonde prince next to him. “Clint’s idea.”

“Dude!”

“What?! It was!”

The elder man just groans. “Why don’t you stop for the day, okay. You’re going to end up hurting someone.”

Matt frowns and grips the bow tighter in his hands. “But no one died!”

Jack raises an eyebrow and holds his hand out for the bow. “Matthew,” he says sternly. Matt sighs but holds the bow out, pout beginning to form as his dad ruffles his hair. “Why don’t you three go off somewhere else? Maybe shoot, if you absolutely just have to, somewhere where there aren’t people,” he offers in order to appease the three teenagers. He grins as they perk up and give mutters of, “Yeah. That’s cool.”

It’s as they’re all walking away that Vladimir turns to give a stern look to Karen. The teenage girl frowns and takes a half step back. “You will lose Matvey to me, just as your family once lost your country to mine,” Vladimir states simply as if just commenting on the weather before he’s walking away, leaving Karen gaping as he leaves.

James lets out a soft whistle accompanied by, “Ouch. Would you like some aloe vera for that burn, Princess?”

“Shut up James!” Is all Karen snaps out before she’s stomping off into the opposite direction that Vladimir went.

~oOo~

Hours later the royals are all dining together. Conversation and laughter  floats through the air as everyone chats to each other, catching up about how their lives are or how their country is doing. All but for Karen and Vladimir who have given up stealing glances to the auburn haired prince in favor of kicking each other under the table while never letting up their glaring contest.

They think they’re being oh so sneaky. They answer any and all questions any of the other royals send their way. They keep the glaring to a minimum. But Anatoly knows Vladimir very well. Probably better than Vladimir knows himself at some times, and so he can tell that something is going on between the two blonde royals.

So the brunette forces a bright grin onto his face and kicks his younger but taller brother in the ankle under the table. As his brother bites back a groan Anatoly leans over to hiss out in a tone full of warning, “ _Vladimir_ ,” and the use of his full name makes the blonde lose his scowl in favor of a frown, “ _knock it off_!”

“ _No! He is mine!”_ Vladimir mutters back, glaring darkly at the smirking blonde sitting across from him. “ _I will win, you annoying little brat!_ ” He snaps to her even though he knows full well that she won’t understand the Russian words.

But she does know when she’s being insulted and so she childishly sticks her tongue out at him accompanied by a kick to his shin. Then takes a sip of her drink, acting as if nothing had ever happened.

Vladimir scowls and sends another harsh kick to the Latvian princess. But ultimately ends up missing and kicking James in the shin instead. James who lets out a loud yelp and jolts as the kick bruises him.

The two Russians and one Latvian all send him false looks of worry.

“Oh goodness, James!” Karen gasps out, one hand on his shoulder, “What’s wrong? Did you drop something?”

“What? No-” he frowns as she not so subtly drops a fork to the floor. “Uh…”

“Allow me,” she sends a glare to Vladimir before dropping to the floor, the adults going back to eating and chatting rather than worry about the odd teenagers.

Anatoly pinches Vladimir, a silent warning of sorts, when he sees the blonde’s mouth drops open in surprise before he is quite literally biting his tongue to keep from letting out a yell as Karen stabs him with her fork from under the table. Anatoly at this point doesn’t even bother trying to mask his irritation or glare as Karen pops back into her seat looking far too innocent.

By now, Vladimir can tell that his brother has had more than enough of his bull for one night and has ducked his head down ever so slightly to finish eating his meal in silence.

Karen takes this as a win. Until she notes Anatoly’s aggravation being directed to her as well. James just rubs at his shin and pretends that he was never involved because honestly, he doesn't even want to know what Vladimir and Karen are thinking now.

~oOo~

It’s not until after dinner that Anatoly drags Vladimir towards the library where he then shoves the blonde into a shelf. “ _What the hell was that?_ ” The brunette hisses out.

“ _What the hell was what, Tolik?_ ” Vladimir says back, playing innocent and stupid.

Anatoly is neither amused or fooled for even a moment.. “ _Dinner! What was that?!_ ”

Vladimir tilts his head slightly and hums. “ _Food_ .” His cheeky grin is lost though when Anatoly takes a book and smacks him upside the head. “ _Ow! Tolik?!_ ”

“ _Food_ ,” Anatoly sneers out slowly, as if testing the explanation before he is whacking Vladimir once more. “ _meant you and Karen and you damn well know it! You fucker!_ ”

“ _Oh that!_ ” Vladimir waves a hand dismissively. “ _Was nothing.”_ He makes to move away but lets himself be jerked back by his brother once more.

“ _Vladimir_ ,” Anatoly warns, glare set in place.

The blonde sighs, giving a small one shouldered shrug. “ _She thinks that Matvey likes her more and I am going to prove her wrong._ ”

“ _Matvey? You mean Matthew? The fifteen year old?!_ ” Anatoly asks incredulously. Vladimir gives him an almost sheepish look. “ _You and Karen are going to start World War fucking three over a fucking boy, Vova?!_ ”

The blonde rubs the back of his neck and won't meet Anatoly's eyes. “ _Well when said like that it sounds very bad._ ”

" _Because it is! He’s a kid! You’re an adult! Act like one!_ ” Anatoly snaps out.

“ _He’s not just a boy, Tolik!_ ” Vladimir tries to defend himself. But Anatoly just raises an eyebrow at him. “ _He’s a very pretty boy,_ ” the blonde adds almost cheekily.

The elder Russian scoffs at him and turns sharply to leave, arms thrown in the air as he mutters about children and ‘stupid younger brothers’.

Vladimir just rolls his eyes. But takes his brother’s advice to heart.

~oOo~

Come morning, Vladimir is not expecting to run into Matt once again, especially in the library of all places. He’s not expecting it, but he is most definitely pleasantly surprised.

So he walks over to Matt and drawls out teasingly, “And what is the malen'kiy prints doing today?”

The auburn haired teenager just scoffs at him. “Wow I did not miss your voice.”

Vladimir grins as he sees a smile tugging at the corners of Matt’s mouth even as the words pass through his lips. “Mm, is that so?” Matt just shrugs and moves away, red tipped cane tapping across the floor as he moves around. “So what are you doing in here and not at breakfast?” Vladimir asks, leaning against a shelf as he attempts to play uninterested.

“Hiding from everyone else. I usually go exploring the place that we go to,” Matt explains as he trails his fingers over the books on a shelf. “Never been to Russia before.”

“I can show you much better sights than the library, simpatichnyy mal'chik,” Vladimir scoffs out, arms crossing as he stares at the library in boredom. He is mentally preparing a list of amazing sites in St. Petersburg to introduce Matt to.

Matt nods in seriousness and Vladimir almost grins as it seems that the younger prince is going to take him up on his offer of sight seeing. “Oh I’m sure the sights are lovely. Absolutely amazing.”

Vladimir frowns as he realizes what he’d said. Then scoffs as he sees Matt smirking at his discomfort. “ _You make it so hard to deal with you, pretty boy._ ”

“What?”

“How long is your visit here?” Vladimir asks, tactfully changing the subject.

Matt just shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe till the end of the week.”

Vladimir frowns. This just leaves him with three more days with the fifteen year old. “Where do you go next?”

“Probably back to Ireland for the rest of the summer. Foggy’s going to be going back home to New York in a week or so and then I’m stuck here all by myself,” Matt shrugs again, fingers tracing over the raised lettering on a spine of a book.

The blonde nods, beginning to lose himself in thought as he remembers Matt saying that Foggy, ‘ _Not Misty!_ ’, is only able to stay for half of the summer and then he goes back to their city. Matt is then alone. Or at the very least, he feels alone. His dad is usually fairly busy with his grandmother what with their royal duties and Matt doesn’t like his summer classes.

“It’s so ridiculous honestly to have summer classes and then go back to school! It’s like I never get a break,” he had said last night as he and Vladimir had sat by the fountain. Vladimir had wholeheartedly agreed. Mostly because he himself hated still having classes and also just to agree with Matt so that the teenager would continue talking to him.

Vladimir continues to follow Matt around the library. “Would you like to go outside of palace? You may not be able to see, but I can still describe sights to you, da?” He offers slowly, accent thick in his nervousness. Which he curses.

“Like what?” Matt asks curiously, turning to face the Russian.

A ruffle noise as Vladimir shrugs. Then offers In an almost bored tone, “Many churches everywhere. Museums. Anything you want to do, malen'kiy prints. I know great place with fantastic candies.”

Matt grins brightly and Vladimir can’t help but give a dopey grin back. “Well I am always up for candy.”


	3. Chapter 3

As far as first dates went, well, Vladimir thought that this no longer counted as a date. It had begun that way, to him at least, but as he followed behind Matt, Foggy, Clint, and Karen, he couldn’t help but to think that he was now babysitting the group of teenagers instead. When he and Matt had gone to inform (ask in Matt’s case) if they could go for a walk around and see (in Vladimir’s case) the sights, Jack had only one condition; Foggy had to go too.

Which Vladimir was fine with. Mainly because Matt had lit up like a Christmas tree and it was very endearing. Especially when he turned that bright grin to the taller blonde. But then when they had gone to drag Foggy with them, Karen had heard and insisted that she go too. Then Clint had because he didn’t want to be left alone in the Catherine Palace and have to follow his brother around all day. And so now Vladimir was stuck with the teenagers who had bought far too much chocolate and other candies and were having a sugar high.

He had planned on buying a bag of candies for Matt. Introducing him to the tasty little treats. Maybe take him to a bakery. The park. Tell him in great exaggerated detail how the buildings looked and the water and the statues. Everything and nothing just to be able to talk to the teenager. But instead he trailed behind the group who were laughing loudly, borderline obnoxiously actually, and seemingly forgetting about him. So it wasn’t his fault that he was kicking a few rocks around in equal parts boredom and aggravation as he followed behind the young royals and Foggy.

Every so often he would lift his face from the ground to gaze at the auburn haired boy but every time he would, he would also see Karen shooting him a smug look. And then she would lean closer to Matt, either ignoring or just not noticing as the teenager would shift uncomfortably in spot, to tell him something.

It was annoying enough to make him clench his fists so tightly by his sides until his knuckles were a bright white. He hoped rather foolishly that Matt would nudge her away. Or even just take a sidestep away from Karen. He lost himself in a thought that he refused to call a daydream where Matt had had enough of Karen and so he shoves the blonde princess off of the bridge that they’re all walking on. He doesn’t realize that he’s smirking on the outside until he looks up just to see Karen shamelessly drop her head onto Matt’s shoulder with a loud giggle. The smirk falls quickly just to be replaced by a very intense scowl.

He decides that he no longer cares about this outing. This outing that was meant to be just him and Matvey. If Karen wants the awkward teenage boy so bad, then fine. She can have him. Because obviously Matthew doesn’t care too much for him if he’s going to let Karen hang off of him the way she is. So he zones out and completely ignores the four teenagers in favor of nibbling on his own candy.

He doesn’t notice how Matt will turn towards him every so often, frown set in place on his face in worry as he notices how Vladimir has barely said a word since they all left the palace. The blonde doesn’t see how Matt tries to take a step towards him to ask if he’s alright but is instead grabbed by the arm by Foggy as the excited blonde begins to describe some of the boats. Karen quickly joins in a bit awkwardly explaining but Matt just forces a grin and nods along all the same.

It’s not too much longer before they’re all trudging back into the palace, Clint and Foggy talking hurriedly and leading Matt away from Vladimir and Karen in favor of shooting arrows once more.

Vladimir raises an eyebrow and feigns boredom as Karen turns to him, hands on her hips and smirk on her lips. “What do you want?” The Russian asks almost tiredly.

“I may lose him like my family lost my country to yours, but I will win him just as my country won its independence from yours,” Karen says grinning widely as Vladimir narrows his eyes at her. She turns sharply to make a dramatic walk away but stops after only two steps when she hears Vladimir scoff.

“Congratulations. Only took you a whole day to come up with come back. Must be so proud of yourself,” comes the Russian accented remark accompanied by a few sharp claps. He doesn’t give her a chance to say anything back. He just turns with an eye roll and goes to his brother’s bedroom.

He waits patiently at first. Or about as patiently as he can. But eventually he does grow bored and uncomfortable. So when Anatoly finally does make his way into his bedroom hours later he raises an eyebrow as he takes in the sight of his brother stripped down to his boxers and sprawled across his bed.

“ _Vova, what are you doing?_ ” He asks in amusement.

“Was resting,” comes the simple tired sounding and heavily accented response.

The brunette immediately frowns as he hears the dullness of his brother’s answer. “ _Vova? Are you alright?_ ”

“Yes. No. Was shitty day.” The blonde tugs a pillow over his face and just continues to lie still even as he feels the mattress dip slightly when Anatoly makes himself comfortable on the bed.

Anatoly nods even though Vladimir has a pillow over his face and can’t see it. “And so you are almost naked in my bed because you had bad day?”

Vladimir just shrugs and tosses the pillow up at his brother. “I thought you would be more surprised.” He perks up ever so slightly as Anatoly frowns at him in puzzlement. “You sometimes scream like girl. Ahh!” Vladimir yelped as Anatoly smacked the pillow back onto his face and applied a bit of pressure.

“ _Shhh, Vova. Just go to sleep, little brother,_ ” the elder Russian whispered soothingly as his brother laughed and tried to push him away.

“ _Tolik_!”

“ _Sleep_.”

“ _Stop! You loser!_ ”

“ _Shh_ …”

A few more moments of Vladimir half heartedly struggling to push his brother away and the laughing brothers stop their horse playing. Anatoly smacks Vladimir lightly in the face with the pillow once more before pushing the blonde away. “ _So what happened to make your day so shitty?_ ”

Vladimir shrugs, ears a light pink, and he looks away. “ _Karen is just a little bitch._ ” Anatoly raises an eyebrow but says nothing in favor of allowing his brother to vent. “ _She clung onto Matvey all day. And he let her! So I think I am completely over him. Can’t deal with kids anyway._ ”

Slowly, Anatoly nods. “ _I see. So your crush on the teenager who almost shot you, and me may I remind you, yesterday is gone?_ ” The brunette raises an eyebrow in utter disbelief at his brother.

Vladimir scoffs but gives a nod all the same. “ _Can’t believe I liked him. Such a brat. And he almost shot me!_ ” He adds almost as an afterthought. He doesn't sound very convincing and he knows that his brother doesn't believe him but it doesn't stop him from trying all the same to convince them both.

Before Anatoly can think up a proper response a loud knock is filling the room. “Da?” The brunette calls out.

For a moment it’s silent and the brother’s begin to wonder if the person had just left. Until they hear a very familiar prince’s voice calling back, “That means ‘yes’, right?”

~oOo~

It had taken Matt a while but he had eventually snuck away from Foggy and Clint and found his dad and grandma wandering around the large gardens as well.

“So how was St. Petersburg?” His grandmother asked as soon as he walked up to them.

Matt shrugged. “Didn’t really see much of it,” he replies, smirking slightly as his grandma just groans softly at him. His grin quickly falls back into a frown as he remembers the day. “But uh in all seriousness, how do I politely drown a girl?”

“Well I can say that that is honestly a question I never thought I’d hear from my son,” Jack says quickly, tone full of amusement. “Also, I’m pretty sure there isn’t a polite way to drown someone.”

“But who are we drowning, dear?” The older Irish woman asked worriedly. “Because we can very easily invite them over to our palace and push them off of a boat.”

“Mother!”

“Don’t take that tone with your mother, Jonathan!”

Matt snickers softly as he hears his grandmother smack his dad. “Karen. Princess Karen is who we’re drowning. She’s being weird. Weirder than usual. Hanging off of me and just choking me with her awful smelling perfume.”

Jack laughed and pulled his son into a one armed hug. “Sounds like she has a crush on you.” He just laughed harder as Matt pulled a face of disdain.

“Well I wish she’d stop that nonsense ‘cause it’s not funny anymore,” Matt mutters back dryly. His grandmother just makes a soft ‘hm’ noise in thought but otherwise doesn’t really comment much.

Jack shrugs. “Did you thank Prince Vladimir for taking you all out though? That was abnormally nice of him.” His mother nodded in agreement.

“No!” Matt nearly shouted in exasperation, arms thrown up. “Karen wouldn’t get her hands off of me so I could!” The teenager scowled as he was reminded how Karen had held onto his arm all day and how she had giggled far too much and far too loudly into his ear. “She’s not good at subtlety. Probably the worst!”

The Irish woman laughed. “ _I’m not so sure she’s the worst. I am fairly certain there are worse. Like the poor Russian prince_ ,” she says in Gaelic, laughing once more as Jack raises an eyebrow at her.

Matt let out a tired sigh. “Everyone speaks a different language and here I am lost and clueless. Ow!” He yelps as he’s smacked in the back of the head.

“You should practice Gaelic more! We’ll practice it once we go back to Ireland,” the older woman snaps with a nod more to herself than anyone before she’s leaving her son and grandson in the gardens.

“Grandma please no…” Matt mutters, just a bit too late, as he rubs at the back of his head.

Jack just shakes his head in amusement at his mother. “She’s an odd one, my mother is. But back to the matter at hand, you should thank Vladimir for dealing with you rambunctious teenagers. I can’t handle just you and Foggy most days. Throw in Clint and yikes.”

Now it’s Matt’s turn to laugh. “Yeah. I’ll find him. But can we also talk about how Grandma was more than ready to throw Karen off a boat?”

“Go find Vladimir. I have to find your grandmother,” Jack said, giving his son a pat on the shoulder before taking off in the direction his mother went.

Finding Vladimir was easier said than done Matt was quick to find out as it felt like several hours later when he finally found Anatoly’s bedroom in the large palace.

“Da?”

“That means ‘yes’, right?”

~oOo~

Vladimir sighs as he hears Matt’s familiar voice and he collapses back onto the mattress. He groans as he watches Anatoly open the door and the brothers see Matt shuffling awkwardly in place.

“Are you lost, Prince Matthew?” Anatoly asks, looking around for anyone else who may have come with Matt. But he sees no one and is even more confused when Matt shakes his head.

“Well,” the teenager rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorta? I was uh looking for Vladimir actually? But I don’t know where to find him…” He trailed off with a shrug.

Anatoly glances over his shoulder to see his brother watching them in confusion. “Why are you looking for moy brat’ya?”

“I uh wanted to just thank him. For today. Taking us out and the candy and do you know where he is?” The teenager asked, cheeks dusted a light pink the more he spoke.

Another glance to the blonde and Anatoly can see that Vladimir is much more curious now. “Da. Vladimir!” He calls out loudly, as if his brother is in a separate part of the room entirely and not just a few feet away.

Vladimir slowly makes his way over to the door, completely forgetting about at least slipping his pants back on. Anatoly rolls his eyes and sighs as he notices though. “Da? Matvey?”

“Uhm hi,” Matt gave a small wave and forced a bright grin that looked more like he’d just sucked a sour lemon than anything really. “I was just wanting to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Vladimir raised an eyebrow.

The auburn haired teenager nodded. “Yeah. For taking me, us all, out to St. Petersburg. And to also apologize for Karen being a jerk. She’s been like really weird lately for some reason. Don’t get me wrong,” Matt hurries to say, “she’s nice and funny but she’s so so so very annoying.”

The blonde prince nods in understanding. “Da. Very,” he replies dryly. He frowns as Matt winces slightly at his tone. “Izvinite.”

“Gesundheit.”

Vladimir frowns. “You speak German?”

Matt snorted, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “I honestly didn’t know that was German. I thought you sneezed.”

Vladimir turned to face Anatoly and mouth, ‘Chto?’ Anatoly only gave an exaggerated shrug and mouthed back, ‘Americans?’ The blonde jerks back to Matt as the teenager begins to speak up once more.

“So I mean, I know of some good sights to see in Ireland and if you’re ever there while I am, I can uh give you a tour?” Matt’s offer sounds more like a question and Vladimir can’t help but to grin down to the shuffling teenager. “Since you took me out to St. Petersburg. It’s only fair.”

“Da. Sounds great. I sho- describe Moscow next time you visit,” Vladimir offers, proud that his voice doesn’t waver like how Matt’s had. “Do you need help getting to your room?” At Matt’s frown he hurries to assure the younger boy that he doesn’t think him incapable of finding his room because of his blindness. “Palace is just large. Still get lost myself sometimes. One minute and I walk you to your room, da?”

“Duh- I mean da,” Matt blows a raspberry as he trips over the foreign word, his accent making it come out oddly. “I mean yes.”

Vladimir laughs and turns to pick up his discarded clothes from the floor. Anatoly shakes his head wryly. “ _You like him again._ ”

“ _Shut up._ ”

The brunette holds his hands up in a surrender pose. “ _I’m just saying._ ”

“ _And I am just saying to shut up. We both knew that I wasn't actually over him, don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you,_ ” Vladimir retorts, sticking his tongue out at his smirking brother. He switched back to English and begins to lead Matt away, “I think we go to kitchens first. I missed dinner.”

As he watches Vladimir lead Matt away Anatoly debates on whether or not to start a bet with someone on when the two will begin dating. He’ll give it a few more months. Then begin a betting pool. Maybe with Prince Jack, he seems like he’d go for a good bet. Or even Matthew’s grandmother.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it too soon for bed sharing? Oh well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My bestie helped me come up with the beginning of this and I will love her eternally for it. 
> 
> Also, shout out to chrisvertner for giving me mega Proposal AU feels last night, so yes. The Proposal with mattimir is happening soon.   
> And eventually The Parent Trap AU will eventually be uploaded one day hopefully soon because redflowerblooming and I have adorable oc children and we love them. 
> 
> One more thing! After this, I'm thinking of adding a oneshot bit introducing Jessica so if I do that, it will probably be uploaded tonight. If anyone is interested anyway, so yeah, thoughts on that?

The rest of Matt’s visit to Russia passed by in a blur for both him and the blonde Russian. He’s disappointed that he doesn’t bump into Vladimir anymore either and after a few inquiries he learns that it’s because the Russian has been dragged into meetings with his brother and the other adults. He pities the blonde and figures that as long as he gets to at least say goodbye, then not bumping into him isn’t as awful as he thinks maybe.

It’s the last night of his stay in Russia and the first thing that Matt notices when he makes his way into the bedroom that has been assigned as his and Foggy’s is that it smells very overwhelmingly of flowers. Flowers that smell too much like Karen’s perfume that she wears to the point where it’s like a cloud surrounding her. 

Foggy stops talking mid-sentence as he takes notice of his friend’s deep frown. “You alright man?” He asks, looking around the room for anything that could have set his friend off into this weird mood. 

Matt shakes his head slowly, taking another breath of the room. “You don’t smell that?!”

“Kinda smells like Karen’s perfume? Oh. Oh wow,” Foggy laughs out as he begins to understand. “I think that she really likes you man.”

“Well I don’t like her!” Matt snaps out angrily. Foggy just shrugs and shuts the door as Matt storms through the room. “Ugh! It smells terrible in here!” The blind teenager mutters with a scowl. He winces when he picks his pajamas off of the foot of the large bed and all he smells is Karen’s flowery perfume. 

The blonde just shrugs as he moves to change into his own pajamas. “I don’t know man. I kinda like it.”

Matt gives a scoff. “You only say that because you like her for some reason.”

Foggy gives a sheepish grin but it’s quickly lost when his best friend stomps his way to the door. “Where are you going buddy?”

“There is no way in hell that I am sleeping in here! It reeks of teenage girl in here!” Matt says, unable to keep his scowl in place when Foggy laughs in amusement. He grins but sighs and rolls his eyes after a moment. “I’m going to sleep with my dad tonight. His snoring is way better than this perfume.”

Foggy snorts on his laughs but waves his hand. “That works. I for one am going to enjoy the king sized bed without you kicking me all night. Sleep tight, Matty!”

“Yeah, you too. Hopefully Karen won’t try to jump you in the middle of the night,” Matt says before he’s shutting the door behind him with a laugh. 

Matt’s begun walking down the hallway, thankful that it’s quiet and he can hear his dad and grandmother talking from a room further down the hall. He still wishes that he’d brought his cane or even slid his red tinted glasses back onto his face before leaving his room but it’s already too late for that when he’s knocking on the heavy door.

“Come in?” Jack calls out in curiosity. He grins warmly at his son as the teenager slowly pops his head into the guest room that has been given to him. His grin quickly falls into a worried frown as his son refuses to raise his head from the floor. 

Matt slowly makes his way into the room and shuts the door before he licks his lips in thought on how best to make his odd request. “Uh Dad, I know I’m like almost an adult and stuff and that I should really take care of my own problems and all, but can I stay and sleep with you tonight?” Matt asked sheepishly, leaning his body against the door and face turned to the floor in his awkwardness. 

Jack just raised an eyebrow in thought as he watched his son. “Why?” He asked slowly, lips raising slightly in an amused smile as he watched Matt shuffle in spot. 

The auburn haired teenager shrugged as he tried to quickly think up an excuse. The excuse he comes up with is one that most children have used. So he doesn’t see any harm in using it himself. He opened his mouth and blurts out without really thinking the excuse over, “It’s dark in my room and I’m very scared of the dark.” He doesn’t seem to realize what he’s just said but his father and grandmother do and both look at him, very unamused with what they think is him playing coy. 

“Matthew,” Jack begins slowly before he has to take a deep breath and states as calmly as he can, “everything is dark for you.” 

Matt rubbed the back of his neck, slightly annoyed with himself for throwing that out as an excuse instead of the truth. “Uh… I just…” He shrugged, trailing off once more. “It sounded a lot better in my head honestly,” he says, not even bothering to hide how he’s given up trying to find an excuse. 

It was silent for a few moments, the only sound breaking said silence was the sound of Matt’s grandmother flipping the pages of her newspaper. And then Jack was shattering the silence with, “Matty, go to bed.” 

Matt nodded. “Yes, dad. I’m just going to pick up what’s left of my shattered dignity,” he makes hand motions indicating his shattered dignity and picking it up. “Gonna just shove it into shirt pocket-”

“Your shirt doesn’t have a pocket,” Jack interrupts, arms crossing over his chest as he stared at his very embarrassed son. 

“Yeah, well I would know that if I had eyes that worked, but fine. I will shove my destroyed dignity into my pajama pants pockets and I’m going to go back to my room now.” And so with that said, Matt turns to open the door. His hand is on the doorknob when Jack speaks up, tone full of pure and utter amusement. 

“I’ll get you a night-light buddy.” 

Matt just takes a deep breath, eyes closed as he lets the words repeat themselves in his head. Then he gives a simple nod, hand gripping the doorknob tightly. “Th-thanks dad. You’re the best,” he says back, tone drier than sandpaper. 

Jack just gives a bright grin. “I love you son.” 

“Good night dad!” Matt yells back, door shutting quietly behind him as he steps back into the empty hallways. He gives a quiet sigh before opening the door slightly to give a grumble of, “Love you too, dad.” Then he shuts the door again. 

The man turns to give his mother a bright grin. “I think I handled that well.” She just looks at him over her newspaper and makes an audible, ‘hm’ noise before flipping the last page. “Since when can you read Russian?” Jack asks, eyes tracing over the foreign letters. 

“Oh I can’t. But this squiggle line looks just like that other squiggle line so I think it is safe to assume that it’s the same word. Which I cannot read but that is beside the point.” She closes her paper and stands from the overstuffed chair. “I think that I’m going to bed, Jonathan. Sleep tight darling.” 

~oOo~

Vladimir furrows his brows in curiosity as he hears an odd shuffling noise from outside the library. Which is odd because normally it’s quiet at this time which gives him time to actually do his homework that he is still being assigned. His homework that he can’t do at all if that shuffling noise won’t stop. 

So with a scowl at the blank paper he stands from the large desk and moves to throw open the door, glare set in place and ready to yell about ‘even though you aren’t in it, this is still a library so shut up!’ But as he sees Matt, wide eyed and looking very lost, the words die on his tongue only to be replaced by a confused, “Matvey?”

“Matthew,” Matt corrects immediately. “And it’s just Matt actually. I’ve told you that repeatedly you know.”

“Da. Right. And I tell you repeatedly, I like Matvey better,” the Russian retorts, smirking as Matt just wrinkles his nose in irritation. “What are you doing up? Is late. Are you lost?”

The teenager shakes his head and moves to make his way into the library. Vladimir steps to the side to make room for the boy then shuts the door softly. 

“No I just can’t sleep. What about you?” Matt tilts his head in curiosity. “Why are you still up?”

Vladimir scoffs as he plops back down at the desk. “Tolik wants me to write paper on Peter the Great because he say I am ‘slacking’,” he makes air apostrophes around the word and rolls his eyes, “in my classes. Which is stupid because I do not need to be taking classes anymore.”

Matt nods in understanding, his brows furrowed in curiosity. “Who’s Peter the Great?”

Vladimir’s mouth drops open. “Who’s Peter the Great?! Who is Peter the Great he asks! Let me tell you about Peter the Great, Matvey!” And with that exclaimed Vladimir begins a tirade on Russian leader. The blonde doesn’t seem to even notice when Matt pushes the pencil into Vladimir’s hand or that he’s suddenly writing down everything that he’s saying. 

He goes through three sheets of paper, handwriting slightly sloppy but still readable, until he’s done with his tirade. A glance down and he seems to finally realize that he had finished his paper and another glance to the teenager and he sees that Matt is just barely able to keep his eyes open. 

“Matvey.”

“Matthew…” Matt corrects tiredly, yawning widely in his exhaustion. 

Vladimir just grins. “Matvey,” he repeats as if it’s final. And to him it is. Matt just scoffs. “Do you want me to walk you to your room?”

This seems to jerk Matt awake. “No, that’s uh, I’m fine…”

“You are sure?” Vladimir asks, eyebrow raised in disbelief. It’s half past two in the morning by this time. He can’t help but worry when Matt just shrugs. They’ve both moved so that they are walking slowly back to the libraries entrance. 

“Actually…” The teenager  takes a deep breath. “Do you  mind if I stay in your room tonight?” Matt asks, words spilling out of his mouth in a rush much like how a waterfall spills. He doesn’t seem to realize how fast he’s spoken and Vladimir almost hates to ask him to repeat himself. 

But he’s curious and all he was able to catch were the words ‘room’ and ‘tonight’. “Chto? Can you repeat that?” He tilts his head ever so slightly as he watches Matt’s cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink. 

The teenager crosses and uncrosses then crosses his arms over his chest again as he thinks how best to repeat his question. “Is- I mean- I just…”  He cuts himself off as Vladimir grips his shoulders and shakes him slowly, just enough to make Matt sway in spot. 

Vladimir huffs out a breathless laugh. “You talk too fast, Matvey. What is it you want?” 

“Can I stay with you in your room tonight?” Matt asks softly, much slower now. Vladimir doesn’t move his hands from the teenager’s shoulders. Matt shuffles in spot, but not too much. He doesn’t want for Vladimir to let him go just yet. “It’s just… Karen was in my room and either she sprayed her perfume everywhere or she was all in my bed and either way, it’s honestly pretty creepy.” 

The blonde nods slowly as he takes in this information. “That is… da.” He gives a nod even though he knows that Matt won’t see it. “Makes sense. Very creepy of Karen. Why don’t you tell your dad though?”

Matt pulls a face with a scoff. “I tried. But it didn’t go well.”

Vladimir lets out a breathy laugh and nods in understanding. “Da. You can have my bed tonight. I stay on couch. Come on, Matvey.” With that said, he skims his hands down Matt’s shoulders to his wrists where he takes hold of one and gives a soft tug to lead him towards his bedroom. 

Matt gave a thankful grin up to the taller Russian but the grin quickly fell into a puzzled frown. He gave a scoff and shook his head in wonder. “You rich people with your sofas in your bedrooms. It’s ridiculous.” 

“You are rich though, da?” Vladimir retorted back, grin in place as Matt held tightly to his hand as they wandered down the dark halls. 

Matt just laughed loudly. “No, I’m not. My grandmother is. My dad kind of is. Me, as an individual person though,” he placed his free hand to his chest, “as Matthew Michael Murdock-”

“Shitty name,” Vladimir interrupts with a laugh. Even though he says this, he’s repeating the name to himself mentally. Letting it chorus through his mind and allowing a dopey grin to paint itself onto his mouth. 

The auburn haired teenager just laughs back and gives a nod. “I know! It really is! But me, no,” he gives a head shake in amusement, “I’m not rich. Not at all. I’m dirt poor.” A moment of silence and then he’s laughing again. “Poorer than dirt actually. So poor, that I don’t even have two crumbs of dirt to rub together to make more dirt.” 

Matt grins widely as he hears Vladimir’s laughter ring out. He feels his ears heat up as he thinks to himself that he rather enjoys hearing the Russian’s laughter. He sort of wants to hear some more of it if he’s one hundred percent honest with himself.

Vladimir opens the door to his bedroom and nudges Matt into the room. “You are funny, malen'kiy prints,” Vladimir mutters, eyes never leaving Matt as he watches the teenager flop onto his bed.

Matt blows another raspberry in his general direction. “I’m not little.”

“Sort of little,” Vladimir retorts, poking at Matt’s bony wrist as example. “See?”

“Not really, no,” Matt says, smirking as he hears Vladimir groan. The bed dips on his side as the Russian falls face first into the mattress. 

Vladimir rolls to his side so that he’s now facing Matt. “Hm.”

“Hm?”

“Think I get blanket and pillow. Am tired and you look it too,” the blonde says. He reaches over and picks up two fluffy pillows. The only response he receives is Matt yawning and giving a low mutter of, “Not sleepy.” 

But it’s not much longer at all and the young prince is snoring softly. Vladimir rolls his eyes but smiles down fondly to the teenager. “Dobroy nochi, malen'kiy prints.”

The next morning Vladimir wakes up with a terrible crick in his neck and back sore from whatever position he had lied in throughout the night on the couch. He let out a groan before slowly letting himself flop to the floor, blanket falling over him. It was as he was beginning to fall back asleep, one leg still on the couch, that he heard a nearly silent snoring noise coming from his bed and the previous night came rushing back to him.

He makes a noise in surprise as he tries to stand but only falls onto his back, feet now tangled in the blanket. For a moment he can only think to send a quick thought thanks that Matt didn’t see him fall on his ass. Well, that no one saw him fall. 

A sigh and he’s slowly managing to stand from the floor and making his way over to the sleeping teenager. Said teenager had moved in his sleep from the edge of the bed to the center and knocked most of the pillows to the floor. And Vladimir thinks that it’s almost how adorable how small Matt looks on the large bed. 

He tosses a pillow at the sleeping teenager and smirks when Matt just wrinkles his nose in his sleep and rolls over in a pitiful attempt to get away from the offending object. Vladimir just picks another pillow up and smacks Matt with it as well. 

“Matvey.”

“Hmng-no.”

Another smirk accompanied by a pillow being tossed at Matt’s head. “Wake up, Matvey.” When the teenager refuses to move and the snoring starts back up Vladimir just tosses more pillows onto the teenager until the poor kid is under a mountain of pillows. “Matvey!”

“I keep telling you, it’s Matt!” Matt finally snaps out, throwing a pillow at Vladimir’s general direction. It takes all of Vladimir’s will power not to laugh as he watches the sleepy teenager sit up, hair a mess and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I can feel you staring at me,” Matt says dryly with a long yawn, arms stretching above his head before he’s falling back to the mattress. 

The blonde just shrugs then tosses the pillow back at Matt’s face. “You sleep well, simpatichnyy mal'chik?” The bed dipped slightly as the blonde sat himself near the foot of the bed.

Matt tossed the pillow back to Vladimir and huffed when all it earned him was a breathy laugh from the Russian. “Would have slept better if you hadn’t been snoring all night. Did you know you talk in your sleep?”

“I do not!” Vladimir yelped, throwing the pillow at Matt’s grinning face. “Do I really?” He didn’t even bother dodging as the pillow came flying back at his face, just gave a small wince as it smacked him right in the face. 

“Maybe.”

Vladimir gave a frown at the smirk the teenager was giving him, looking much more alive now. “Mudak,” he muttered, tossing the pillow back and grinning as Matt’s smirk disappeared. 

“Why can’t you say my name correctly? It’s Matthew Murdock. Matt Murdock. It isn’t that difficult,” Matt said, enunciating each part of his name and making sure to keep his talking to a slow pace as he remembered how last night Vladimir had gotten confused when he spoke quickly. 

The Russian just laughed even as the pillow hit him in the chest. Neither really noticed as the bedroom door was opened and Anatoly raised an eyebrow at the sight before him. Vladimir on the foot of the bed laughing and Matt on the pillows, hair a mess. “Well, I came to tell you breakfast was ready and happen to find the missing Matthew. Your dad is looking for you.”

“Yikes. Guess I’m gone. Later Vladimir,” Matt said, tossing three pillows at Vladimir’s direction and grinning as he heard them smack Vladimir. 

The brothers waited until Matt was gone, the door shutting behind him, before speaking. And even then they only spoke Russian. 

“ _ I can explain, Tolik, _ ” Vladimir said, the last of his laughter dying down but his grin still remained. Anatoly just raised an eyebrow and waved a hand in a ‘please proceed I’d love to hear this’ way and was careful to keep his expression neutral. “ _ Karen _ -”

Anatoly just rolled his eyes and flopped onto the bed, giving his brother a very disapproving look. “ _ Again with Karen? What is with you two and this boy _ ?” 

“- _ was in his room and being weird. He ran into me in the library and asked if he could stay in here, _ ” he brightened up considerably as a quick memory of the blushing teenager asking if he could stay with him popped to the forefront of his brain. “ _ I slept on the couch. Not as comfortable as I thought it would be. _ ”

The brunette just rolled his eyes. “ _ Hm. Well, I’m hungry and there are pancakes for breakfast. If you think you can go one meal without glaring at or kicking Karen, please, feel free to join us. _ ”


End file.
